


blood in the writing

by gravityinglass



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Identity, half epistolary, if you think about it this is all Dylan Strome's fault, life would be easier if you just talked to each other, one moderately graphic injury described as a plot element, the alternate title for this fic is 'Kyle Dubas and his very stressful inbox'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-07-29 22:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20089723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravityinglass/pseuds/gravityinglass
Summary: To: K. Dubas, CDPU Project DirectorFrom: M. Hunter, CDPU Head of Personnel RecruitmentRE: [[CLASSIFIED]] CANADIAN DOMESTIC PROTECTION UNIT, SKYLINE (Version 3.1)Attached files: Classified, Level 7: SKYLINE PROFILE Version 3,1 (68 KB), SKYLINE SUIT (143 KB), SKYLINE v NATRIX (3.1 GB)...the Mark XVI Skyline suit clearly pays homage to the city of Toronto. The majority of the suit is bright, Maple Leafs blue, a color specifically loaned to Skyline by the Toronto Maple Leafs owner himself. The suit is detailed in crisp white, an outline of the CN tower running up the left ribcage and maple leaf detailing along the right leg. This differs from previous suit designs in clarity and artistic integrity. This appears to be the first version of the suit where the user seems confident enough in their work to put significant effort into aesthetic detail. See attached photo for visual reference...Or, Toronto has developed a super-villain problem. Luckily, it's also developed a pair of vigilante superheroes.





	blood in the writing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [venvephe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/venvephe/gifts).

**━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━**

In the beginning, it had been more of a joke than anything. Mitch had always been kind of nerdy, but he'd always covered it up by throwing himself into hockey. It wasn't like he was ashamed of loving theoretical physics and fluid mechanics, but it was easier to impress people when he scored on a sick wrister.

He'd tinkered in the garage on weekends, attended STEM sleepaway camps, and mostly kept the two parts of his life separate. He had his hockey friends--Stromer, Clouder, even Brownie and Finner--and his nerd friends--Salvi, Nate and Elodie--and they stayed mostly in their own hemispheres.

When he was sixteen, he turned down the OHL despite getting drafted by the London Knights. He loved hockey, but he couldn't quite bear the idea of giving up mathematics and engineering. Not when he could go to university in a year and have both.

Which was naturally when Dylan fucking Strome wandered back into his life and demanded to know why his biggest opponent had decided to drop out of the league.

Mitch’s mom, as wonderful as she was, never quite understood why Mitch was keeping the two halves of his life very separate, and let Dylan into the garage where Mitch was scribbling calculations all over the whiteboard he’d bought with money he’d made refereeing pewee games.

“You, Bitchell, I hear you’re--holy shit, what the fuck is that?”

Mitch dropped his whiteboard marker and spun to face Dylan. “Hi?”

“Are you doing math?”

Mitch kicked his rolling whiteboard so it slid to the side, behind his mom’s car. “No?”

Stromer pointed at the whiteboard, which was still visible through the windows of Mitch’s mom’s SUV. “That’s definitely math.”

“I’m...diagramming plays?” Mitch tried. “Look, I know it’s kind of nerdy, but--”

“What kind of math are you doing?”

Mitch’s brain ground to a halt. “Uh--”

“My kid brother is annoyingly good at math.” Dylan came down the pair of steps into the garage and then rounded the corner so he was standing next to Mitch. “Calc?”

“Linear Algebra.”

“Huh.” Dylan reached over and dead-armed Mitch. “This why you’re not playing in the O next year?”

Mitch shrugged. “Kinda? I want to do some university, y’know, and it’s kind of hard to do that when you play juniors.”

“You could take your hockey gear and use that to start a super-suit,” Dylan said. “Like, you can take a hit already, so why not use it to fight crime?”

Mitch was never going to tell Dylan to his face, but that was basically where the Skyline suit began. 

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_ To: K. Dubas, CDPU Project Director _

_ From: M. Hunter, CDPU Head of Personnel Recruitment _

_ RE: **[[**_ **_**CLASSIFIED**]] CANADIAN DOMESTIC PROTECTION UNIT, SKYLINE (Version 3.1)_ **

_ Attached files: Classified, Level 7: SKYLINE PROFILE Version 3,1 (68 KB), SKYLINE SUIT (143 KB), SKYLINE v NATRIX (3.1 GB) _

...the Mark XVI Skyline suit clearly pays homage to the city of Toronto. The majority of the suit is bright, Maple Leafs blue, a color specifically loaned to Skyline by the Toronto Maple Leafs owner himself. The suit is detailed in crisp white, an outline of the CN tower running up the left ribcage and maple leaf detailing along the right leg. This differs from previous suit designs in clarity and artistic integrity. This appears to be the first version of the suit where the user seems confident enough in their work to put significant effort into aesthetic detail. See attached photo for visual reference.

Technical advancements appear to include improved flight stabilizers, reinforcement on the rear right flank (a previous weak spot), and the aforementioned design improvements. See attached video clips for visual reference.

Skyline’s gender is still unknown. The suit presents an androgynous figure with no definitive gendered traits. Skyline’s robotic voice is also genderless. We have no way of knowing if there is one individual wearing the Skyline suit, or if there are multiple operators. Speech analysis implies the wearer is young enough to use slang popular among the high school and university set, but this does little to narrow down Skyline's identity. 

Skyline has rebuffed all invitations to join the Canadian Domestic Protection Unit with a vehement level of vitriol...

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“Is it just me,” a familiar voice said from somewhere behind Mitch. “Or have we got to stop meeting like this?”

“Good to see you, Gryphon,” Mitch called back. “You wanna give me a hand here?”

Gryphon launched himself into the fray, his tall, solid body moving with catlike grace and quietness. “For you, Skyline? Anything.”

The Skyline suit whirred quietly as Mitch dodged the ball of gooey acid that Natrix threw his way. Sweat dripped down Mitch's neck; he'd have to work on internal cooling systems in the next iteration of the Skyline suit.

For now, though, he was preoccupied with clearing civilians from Natrix’s blast range and deterring him from causing more damage. It was good that Gryphon was here because Natrix usually focused more heavily on him and Mitch could use the Skyline suit to clear the area as best he could.

Local police would be here soon; Mitch could hear the sirens approaching. Gryphon and Skyline weren't law enforcement, but the police generally let them slide. The Skyline suit, after all, was a little more equipped to deal with a supervillain's acid grenades than a standard-issue police vest.

With Gryphon distracting Natrix, Mitch set about hustling some of the people hiding behind fire hydrants and in storefronts out of the area. The asphalt of the road and the concrete of the sidewalk were rapidly dissolving into a cratered mess. Mitch didn't want to know what would happen if that acid came in contact with human skin.

“What the fuck,” one man wearing a Kessel Leafs jersey was muttering to himself from where he was huddled behind a storefront mannequin. “Why the fuck, _how _ the fuck--”

“I would just run,” Mitch said. The Skyline suit just made his already flat delivery even flatter. “Kudos for bravery, though.”

The man yelped. He brandished the mannequin arm at Mitch, not that it would be very effective against either the Skyline suit or Natrix’s acid grenades.

“I’m one of the good guys,” Mitch offered. “Do you want an escort?”

The man gathered himself. “Uh—“

“I mean, you could evac from the area on your own, or I could make sure you don’t get hit.”

“Yes, please.”

By the time Mitch had gotten all the civilians he could out of harm’s way, Gryphon had Natrix halfway up the side of a building and ready to flee. With Skyline rejoining the fight, Natrix threw his hands up and bolted.

Gryphon tore off in pursuit, while Mitch landed to start talking to law enforcement. It wasn’t long before Gryphon returned to give his side of the story; the look of disgust on his masked face was enough to confirm Natrix had escaped yet again.

They got through their statements and were getting ready to take off when Dubas showed up at the crime scene, as he usually did these days.

Mitch had no doubt he'd been there nearly the whole time, observing them and taking notes.

"Gentlemen," he said solemnly, picking around the puddles of toxic slime eating through the sidewalk. "Have you given any thought to my offer?

Mitch activated his boots and held a hand out to Gryphon. "Rather not."

Gryphon clung to the back of Skyline's armor. Mitch made a note to install better grips for Gryphon to hold onto.

"You know where to find me if you change your minds," Dubas called as they took off. “The CDPU could use people like you.”

“Eat dirt,” Gryphon muttered right into Skyline's audio input.

Below them, Mitch could see people looking up and pointing, taking pictures. If he was going to land anywhere without the two of them getting mobbed, a rooftop was probably the best bet.

“Think Dubas knows something we don't?” Mitch asked as he set them down atop one of Toronto’s many high-rise apartment buildings.

“I hope not.”

Mitch suppressed a sigh. “Well, can I give you a lift anywhere?”

“Skyline, I love you, but your suit is not made for passengers. I can walk from here.” Gryphon’s mask did little to hide his smile. “You gonna turn me down for coffee again?”

“Little hard to drink through the faceplate.”

“Until next time, then,” Gryphon said. He saluted jauntily, then took a running leap off the side of the building, tucking to roll his landing on a lower rooftop.

Mitch shook his head and activated the Skyline flight protocols. He was late to hockey practice.

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_ To_: [ mitchell.marner@mail.utoronto.ca  
](mailto:mitch.marner.3@mail.utoronto.ca) _ From_: [ michael.babcock.2@mail.utoronto.ca ](mailto:michael.babcock.2@mail.utoronto.ca)

**RE**: Tardiness, 2nd Warning  
Attached file: Student-Athlete Handbook (112 KB)

Marner, I know you care about this team. Take care to review the attendance and participation policies in the handbook. This is your second warning. Don’t make me issue a third.

Mike Babcock  
Adjunct Professor of Sports History  
Head Coach, Varsity Blues Hockey Team  
“You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don’t Take” -Wayne Gretzky

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“Sorry I’m late,” Mitch yelped, skidding into the dining hall and just barely missing knocking their goalie Sparksy out of his chair.

“You’ve never been on time in your life,” Sparksy said easily, reaching out to steady Mitch. “We’ve just started telling you fifteen minutes earlier than the actual time you need to be here in hopes Coach won’t bag-skate the hell out of you.”

“And Matthews is even later than you,” Hyman added. He pushed a plate of food over towards Mitch’s spot, nodding at it with a smile.

Mitch loved Hyms--he was almost exactly as nerdy as Mitch himself was, though his skills laid in writing and rhetoric rather than mechanical engineering like Mitch. He also was the only one of their hockey nerd squad to reliably remember to feed himself, which meant he often picked up plates of food for Mitch whenever Mitch was running late.

Auston strolled in just as Mitch was getting up to get seconds. Unlike Mitch, he usually tried to play off being late as a deliberate choice rather than a symptom of his life being hectic, which everyone saw through. Along with Hyms and Sparksy, Auston was part of their nerd squad, angling towards genetic therapies and medicine.

Or so Mitch gathered. He didn’t always understand what Auston was talking about when he geeked out. Physics, Mitch was good at. DNA, less so.

“Better hope Coach doesn’t catch wind of you being late,” Hyms teased as Auston sat down.

Mitch waved and headed off to refill his plate; when he came back the table was actively discussing a Gryphon sighting near campus.

“I think it’s weird that Toronto is developing its own superhero team,” Hyms was saying. He had clearly abandoned his history textbook in favor of gesturing widely at Auston. “We’re not that far from New York.”

“Well, if Skyline flies at the same speed a car drives, it’d be an eight hour trip from New York City to here. It’d make more sense if there was a superhero team based out of Buffalo.”

“Doesn’t one of the Avengers have superspeed, or whatever?” Sparksy asked.

“But how useful would superspeed be if you don’t have anything else. Isn’t Natrix, like. Snake-themed? You’d want like, a freeze hero.”

Auston snorted through a mouthful of gluey mashed potato, scooting his backpack over so Mitch could sit back down. “Just because he’s snake-themed doesn’t mean he’s cold-blooded.”

“Gryphon and Skyline seem to be holding their own,” Mitch agreed, trying to keep his expression relatively neutral. “Neither of them are temperature.”

“Nah, Gryphon’s just a knock-off Spiderman and Skyline’s a knock-off Iron Man.” Hyms rolled his eyes. “Anyways I was just saying I thought it was weird that it’s like, just downtown Toronto and not anywhere else. You’d think anyone with the money to build the Skyline suit would either be flaunting it everywhere or rich enough to live in the suburbs up north.”

“The StarMetro thinks they’re Iron Man’s secret love child who inherited the suit,” Auston said. His expression showed exactly what he thought of that idea, which was more or less what everyone thought of the StarMetro’s opinion: it was dumb, and also wrong. “I bet you Skyline is some rich kid with too much time on their hands.”

“I bet Skyline is some hot girl,” Sparksy said thoughtfully. Everyone turned to stare at him. “What?”

“It’s a metal robot suit,” Hyms said. “Where are you getting a hot girl, exactly?”

“Well, I bet you’d have to be pretty small to fit into a suit that looks human-sized with all the machinery and shit. And like, most dudes aren’t that small.”

Mitch, who had spent several years trying to make the suit less bulky, decided not to weigh in.

“I don’t think the Skyline suit is that small,” Auston said dubiously. “It’s not like a tiny machine the pilot is flying around.”

“What if Skyline is just a robot and there’s no human inside it at all?” Hyms suggested, and at that point, Mitch decided he was just going to dig into his food and ignore the rest of the bickering. When he tuned back in, the guys were debating what superpower their teammates would likely have if they suddenly found themselves irradiated.

“I bet Mitchy would have superspeed,” Hyms said, elbowing Mitch. “And yet he’d still be late to everything.”

Mitch flipped Hyms off because if he reacted any differently he’d invite questions about his reactions. “Zachy would have the power to bore people to death.”

Eventually, Sparksy begged off, citing the need to do laundry they all knew he was going to put off for at least another three days. Hyms stayed a little longer, but only until his girlfriend texted him, letting him know she’d accidentally locked her keys in her car and needed a pickup.

Mitch took the opportunity to spread out, as did Auston; they had a whole table to themselves in the back of the dining hall, and Mitch fully planned to spend the rest of the afternoon there chipping away at his workload. Being a university hockey player by day and a secret superhero by night wasn’t exactly conducive to keeping his grades up, and he had to maintain a certain average in order to stay in the program.

Auston was good company; they both worked well on the Pomodoro method and chatted easily in their short breaks. When their first long break rolled around, they bickered cheerfully over the best NHL game and if they thought the Leafs stood a chance this year; while Mitch got along with most people, there was an ease to his conversations with Auston that he so deeply appreciated.

They stayed until the dining hall started to get busy with the dinner rush and were starting to get dirty looks from people for hogging a four-top table when there was already limited seating. Mitch bundled his stuff into his bag, humming lightly to himself.

“Want me to walk you back?” Auston offered as they left the building.

Mitch gave him a smile in return. “We’re pretty safe on campus, I think.”

“And if I just wanted to spend more time with you?”

Mitch paused. Auston was sweet, and in another life, he’d have been jumping at the chance to say yes. Instead, he was thinking of the repairs he’d need to make to the Skyline suit, of how late he’d already been staying up to catch up on homework, on how early he was going to need to get up for hockey practice, of what the next time Natrix might decide to attack. And, he thought a little wistfully of Gryphon’s eyes, warm brown and sparkling with laughter every time he and Skyline finished a fight with Natrix.

“I--” he started.

Auston, astute as ever, caught on. “There’s someone else for you, isn’t there?”

Mitch flushed. “I mean. Not technically, but--maybe. Hopefully.”

“If it doesn’t work out, or if you change your mind,” Auston said. “I’m not gonna say no to you, Mitch.”

“I--thanks,” Mitch said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

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_ To: K. Dubas, CDPU Project Director _

_ From: J. Paliafito, CDPU Lead Threat Assessor _

_ RE: _ ** _[[CLASSIFIED]] CANADIAN DOMESTIC PROTECTION UNIT, NATRIX (Version 3.1)_ ** ** _  
_ ** _ Attached files: Classified, Level 7: NATRIX PROFILE Version 3,1 (118 KB) _

...Natrix uses a suit with a scaly pattern, leading us to believe the name Natrix is specifically in reference to snakes and not a play on an individual’s name.

We have reason to believe Natrix is connected in some way to the University of Toronto, but we have no evidence to this effect other than that Natrix sightings seem to be contained to the St. George and Mississauga campus areas and not parts further east of the city. Agent Kapanen is convinced it is a member of the engineering faculty, but he has not been successful in gathering evidence and therefore this is mere speculation.

Sergeant Major Rielly of the RCMP is conducting an investigation of his own into the potential identity of Natrix. While Natrix is currently limiting his attacks to the city of Toronto and in particular the Sick Kids hospital, Rielly has concerns that this particular brand of supervillainy may spread. There are already reports of enhanced individuals attempting to copycat across the province. The aggressivity of Natrix only reinforces the need for the CDPU to be established immediately...

_ ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━ _

Mitch loved flying in the Skyline suit. It was one of his favorite things in the world, to be wrapped in warm metal and darting through the lower atmosphere over Lake Erie. He was using the suit more and more these days as a crime-fighting machine, but when he got the chance to use it for his own personal enjoyment, he couldn’t help but appreciate the finer details he’d finally nailed in the suit design.

He was still in contact with some of his nerd friends from high school, and he’d taken Elodie’s suggestions on how to fine-tune some of the smaller servo motors in the joints. It had made a world of difference in how he was able to control the flight systems, even with the unpredictability of moisture from Lake Erie and the eternal battle against the damage caused by run-ins with Natrix and other copycat villains that were starting to pop up all over Toronto.

He skimmed low over the water, then shot up into the sky. This far out over the lake he barely had to worry about being spotted; even the cargo ships were few and far between here. Flying this fast was nearly comparable to zipping up and down the ice in a game. He figured it was similar reflexes or something, but either way, he was glad he had this little bit of time to himself.

The Skyline suit chimed, a message blinking in the corner of the visor. Mitch opened it with a flick of his iris and swore.

That was his alarm reminding him he was meeting up with Auston in the UTM library to study. He darted back to shore as fast as he could and shucked the suit, watching it fold itself back up into a neat and nondescript cube. He loaded it into the trunk of his station wagon and headed back to campus.

It wasn’t until he was dropping his backpack onto the library table that he remembered it would just be him and Auston, and that the last time they’d been alone together Mitch had summarily turned Auston down for a date.

Auston was flicking through his phone quietly, his books already spread out. He waved at Mitch when he sat down, but otherwise, he didn’t say anything.

The silence at their table was nearly oppressive. Mitch kind of regretted not throwing a pair of headphones into his bag. Auston was quieter than usual, distracted by his phone and clearly not paying attention when Mitch asked him a question about their stats homework.

Finally, Mitch put down his pen.

“Are you being weird because I wouldn’t go out with you?”

“No, it’s—“ Auston rubbed at his eyes. “I did an extra volunteer shift at Sick Kids and, uh. It was rough.”

Mitch took a good look at Auston and saw the circles under his eyes, the way that Auston’s cuticles were scabbed up in a way that indicated he’d been chewing on them again. “What happened?”

“It’s—you know how Patty--uh, Dr. Marleau’s lab is researching gene therapies for cystic fibrosis?”

Mitch probably knew that at some point, but in all honesty, he didn’t always remember what Auston did in his labs. “In theory, yeah, I knew that.”

“I wanted to go into medical research because my uncle died of cystic fibrosis, on my dad's side. Patty’s youngest kid, Caleb, is in Sick Kids with cystic fibrosis. It's how I met Patty and knew to apply for his lab.”

“I didn't know that.”

Auston nodded. “It's why he moved from the US back to Canada. Better healthcare for Caleb and UT was willing to hire him. I think his other option was the University of Alberta in Edmonton.”

Mitch did some mental math, sorting through the options of what could connect a volunteer shift at Sick Kids and Auston’s supervisor and came up with “So Caleb had a bad night?”

Auston’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. He's battling pneumonia right now. So I was with him and Patty all afternoon, and then the hospital went on lockdown because Natrix and Skyline were fighting outside the ward so I wasn't able to leave. The kids were all freaked out, and Caleb was a mess because his dad had left like ten minutes before it all went down so he was freaking out that his dad was going to get hurt. I didn't get home until two AM and we had practice at six-thirty.”

Mitch remembered that fight. It had been like playing whack-a-mole with Natrix as he popped in and out of traffic. Mitch’s hands had been full trying to keep Natrix's acid grenades from doing too much damage even with the Toronto police shutting down the streets and putting the local buildings on lockdown.

Dubas had shown up with a gadget that looked like a rocket launcher but fired a steel mesh net, and Mitch's Skyline suit had gotten caught along with Natrix. Unfortunately, by the time Mitch had gotten free, Natrix had as well, and he'd fled. There had been no sign of Gryphon, but that wasn't that unusual midweek evenings. It was part of the reason Mitch had taken the Skyline suit out over the lake; he’d needed a reminder of why he loved the suit and all the baggage that came with it.

“I saw that on the news in the student union this morning,” Mitch said instead, even though his left arm was still aching from where the Skyline suit had been damaged and the bent metal had dug a deep bruise into his bicep.

“At least the Sick Kids building was mostly undamaged, but it was a really weird night.” Auston shook his head. “Anyways. Sorry if I’m being weird.”

“Nah, I get it. I was just worried everything was going to be weird now.”

“Not if I can help it,” Auston said, the first smile spreading across his face all day. “Your answer to a date still no?”

“Are you angling for a pity date, Matthews?”

“If it works I’ll take it.”

“Maybe next time.”

Auston shrugged, his smile finally reaching his eyes. “Worth a shot.”

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To: mitchell.marner@mail.utoronto.ca  
From: matthew.martin.2@mail.utoronto.ca  
RE: postpone meeting

Hey mitchy

Gonna need to reschedule our lab hours since prof tavares is out sick and needs someone to cover his classes. i volunteered since its the one on biomimetics and how sidewinder snakes helped develop better robots and enzo is terrified of snakes

How does tuesday morn at like 11:30 work? I’ll bring starbucks.

-matt

Sent from my iPhone

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JT was the only advisor in the lab when Mitch got there at 11:30. He was hunched over his lab notebook, muttering darkly to himself.

Mitch rapped on the doorframe. “Hey, I thought you were out sick.”

JT looked up, and Mitch saw the incredible black eye JT had. “Technically,” JT said. “I am.”

“What happened there?”

A look Mitch couldn’t quite define rolled across JT’s face. “Uh, so would you believe I tripped getting changed after a beer league game?”

“And you tripped right into someone’s fist?”

“Slammed the corner of my eye into the changing bench and apparently nearly chipped my skull.”

Mitch gaped a little. “And you don’t have a concussion?”

JT winced. “Uh--”

“Why are you _ here _?” Mitch plopped himself down to sit next to JT. He grabbed at JT’s notebook, but JT’s reflexes--concussed or not--were still better than Mitch’s and the lab notebook was whisked away into the top drawer of JT’s desk.

“I have grading that I need to hand off to Marty.”

As if summoned, the next thing Mitch heard was “What’s up, Mitchy, I got you your horrendous pink thing--” Marty stopped short. “You are not supposed to be here.”

JT pushed back from his desk. “I just wanted to make sure you got the exams that needed to get marked.”

“Yeah, the four texts you had your boyfriend sent me weren’t enough.” Marty raised an eyebrow. “And the sticky note you stuck to the door. Or the bright red file folder sitting on my desk. I definitely wasn’t going to be able to find those. Go home, asshole, you’re concussed.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” JT saluted merrily, picked up his lab notebook, and wandered out the door, clearly wincing at the bright fluorescent lights in the hallway.

Marty shook his head, sitting down at his desk. “Right, so we were going to do troubleshooting today, right? I got you your weird pink milkshake thing.”

“Frappuccino.”

“Milkshake.” Marty slid the drink in question across the table to Mitch, chucking a straw at him immediately afterward. “Anyways. What’s the troubleshooting issue of the day?”

Marty knew about the Skyline suit. He’d figured it out when half of Mitch’s hypothetical troubleshooting issues had been for concepts remarkably similar to known issues with the Skyline suit. Marty had made it clear he didn't approve of the vigilante crime-fighting Mitch was doing, but he also hadn't been able to come up with a better way to counter Natrix and he was definitely suspicious of the CDPU and Dubas. At least once Marty had covered for Mitch missing hockey practice and he regularly patched up Mitch's injuries.

“Servos.”

“Ducky on strike?”

Debug Duck, a rubber duck printed with a Maple Leafs jersey, sat on top of Mitch’s computer. He was watching them with his cartoonish ducky eyes.

“Ducky is on strike and I just can’t figure out why the servos are on the fritz today.”

A familiar face poked around the door frame. “Hey, is Mitch here?”

“Patty, hey,” Mitch said, standing up. “You looking for Auston?”

“Ah, kind of. He didn’t show for his lab session and I was wondering if he was in here with you. He mentioned something about a stats project?”

“I haven’t seen him all day.” Mitch shrugged loosely. “I saw him yesterday when we were studying in the library. I can text him if you want?”

“I’ll send him another email. Thanks, Mitch. Hey, Martin.”

“Hey, Marleau.” Marty stretched, grunting a little. “The bioethics students still hopeless?”

“In their defense, Natrix is regularly spotted near the biology building,” Patty said wryly. “Half the class is terrified of entering the building and the other half are waiting for Skyline and Gryphon to show up.”

Marty hummed. “Yeah, JT mentioned that building was a superheroics hotspot. Makes me wonder if Skyline or Gryphon is a student.”

“Maybe,” Patty said, giving Mitch a long look. “Imagine, heroes among us. Anyways, if you see Auston, let him know I'm looking.”

The rest of the day passed as most of Mitch’s days did; he did his lab work, attended a lecture, and then sprinted back to his dorm to change into under armor for hockey practice. He caught up with Hyms at the dining hall to scarf down a meal; between hockey and his work as Skyline, Mitch burned through a truly obscene amount of calories, but most of his friends seemed to chalk it up to Mitch having a fast metabolism.

He just hoped none of them found his stash of CalorieMate under his bed, because he was pretty sure they’d think he had a serious medical issue at that point.

He ate quickly, inhaling the salad he’d assembled and starting in on an enormous plate of pasta as Hyms ate at a more sedate pace.

“Do you ever wonder if Skyline and Gryphon know each other in real life?” Hyms mused. He had an honest-to-god newspaper on the table between them. Some intern had photoshopped hearts onto the eye slit of the Skyline suit; the effect was not unlike a Daft Punk helmet in looks.

Mitch was both impressed and mildly offended, considering the picture in question had Skyline conversing with Gryphon. If Mitch remembered, the disgruntled expression on Gryphon’s face had been a result of discussing how difficult it was to clean and repair their suits when acid damage from Natrix got to them.

“I mean--probably not, right? Toronto is _ huge _.” Mitch hoped he didn’t know Gryphon; he liked to think he’d be able to tell who his crime-fighting partner was if they ran into each other in real life. 

“They fight crime together, though. If you can trust a dude to watch your back in a fight against a literal supervillain, I figure you could trust them with a lot of other stuff too.” Hyms forked up a bite of pasta and shrugged. “I mean, Gryphon runs around in a skintight suit. Not like he’s hiding a lot under that.”

Mitch couldn’t really counter that, mainly because his primary argument consisted of the fact that the Gryphon suit up close was not as skin tight as it was designed to look, and that if anyone was going to decode Gryphon’s civilian identity it was going to be Skyline. Thankfully, Hyms was content to drop the subject when Mitch asked what he thought their practice session was going to consist of later.

The idea stuck in Mitch’s head, though. The next time Skyline and Gryphon met up, Mitch paid attention to Gryphon’s quirks and came to the kind of realization he really did not want to have: Gryphon definitely knew who Natrix was outside of their suits, and Skyline was wildly out of the loop.

“You know him,” Mitch said. If the Skyline suit wasn’t modulating his voice, he was sure he’d have squeaked. “You and Natrix--you know each other.”

Gryphon grimaced. “I--”

“You know each other,” Mitch repeated, feeling more frantic. He remembered his conversation with Hyman earlier and felt sick. “Are you _ working _ with him?”

Gryphon actually, physically recoiled. “Oh my God, _no,_ and fuck you for thinking that.”

“What the hell else am I supposed to think?”

“That I figured out his civilian identity and I’m trying to figure out what to do about it without shouting _ my _ civilian identity to the world?”

“I don’t know, but there has to be something you can do!”

Gryphon huffed and threw his hands in the air. “Well, you can fuck right off until I figure that out, then,” he said, and threw himself off the side of the building, catching himself on a fire escape and scrambling off into the distance.

Mitch activated his flight boosters and took off into the sky, still not sure how he felt about Gryphon knowing who Natrix was.

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_ To: K. Dubas, CDPU Project Director _

_ From: M. Hunter, CDPU Head of Personnel Recruitment _

_ RE: _ ** _[[CLASSIFIED]] CANADIAN DOMESTIC PROTECTION UNIT, GRYPHON (Version 2.6)_ ** ** _  
_ ** _ Attached files: Classified, Level 7: GRYPHON PROFILE Version 2,61 (36 KB), AUSTON MATTHEWS PROFILE Version 1.1 (45 KB) _

...The Gryphon suit is clearly made of spandex-like material with few armor or protection qualities. While the wearer clearly has accelerated healing abilities in addition to martial arts skills and enhanced physical strength, their super-suit is not designed with the user’s powers in mind.

We are relatively confident in claiming that Gryphon’s civilian identity is one Auston Matthews, an undergraduate at the University of Toronto studying genetic engineering. Matthews is an American citizen studying in Canada under a student visa; for this reason, he may not be a particularly strong candidate for the CDPU. It is not known if Matthews knows the civilian identity of Skyline, with whom he often collaborates. Several candidates have been identified in his known associates; their names and potential evidence has been compiled in the supplementary documentation.

Over the past three years, Matthews has studied under Dr. Patrick Marleau in his genetic engineering lab as an intern. It is suspected that his biological metamorphosis occurred here with the aid of Dr. Marleau’s equipment sometime within the first few months of him working there. Interviews with Dr. Marleau suggest no strong personality change in Matthews in recent months…

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Following his fight with Gryphon--even though Mitch didn’t really want to call it a fight in so many words--Mitch spent a lot of time reconsidering just about everything he knew. Gryphon knew who Natrix was, so did Natrix know who Gryphon was, in real life? Was Gryphon a rogue henchman turned hero? Had Natrix been the source of Gryphon’s powers? Had Gryphon been the source of Natrix’s? If Gryphon knew who Natrix was, did he also know who Mitch was under the Skyline suit, and would he tell him if he did know?

It led Mitch to distraction during one of his regular study sessions with Auston, who had apparently been battling a rough bout of what he was calling the flu and everyone else was calling an epic hangover.

“So, how about it?” Auston said, leaning on his elbows and smiling a wide grin at Mitch. “You, me, coffee, tomorrow? We could call it a date.”

Mitch thought about Skyline, about the emotionless exterior Skyline had to project, about the late nights patrolling with Gryphon, about the sacrifices he already had to make, and thought--well, why _couldn't_ he have this? What was stopping him from going out with a guy he got along with and who he could really see himself getting along with, in the long term?

So he said yes.

To his credit, Auston looked a little surprised that Mitch had agreed to a date, but he quickly recovered. “I’ll meet you after my biochem lab tomorrow? Like--fiveish?”

“Uh, yeah, sounds good.”

There was no Natrix attack that night, which left Mitch fretting over his wardrobe. What was he supposed to wear to a coffee date with Auston Matthews, who had already seen Mitch in sweaty under armor and hockey gear, who’d seen him eight hours into an all-nighter and running on Redbull and the need to ace his physics final, who’d done team-bonding paintball with Mitch? Finally, he settled on a light blue button-down and jeans, resolving to find a somewhat nearby place to the cafe to park his car and stash the Skyline suit. Just in case of an emergency.

God, he hoped he wouldn’t have to ditch the date halfway through because Natrix decided to throw an acid temper tantrum all over downtown again. He wasn’t sure how he’d even begin to explain that to Auston.

“Sorry for running out on you, but I’m secretly a superhero” would probably come across as a cop-out and a dick move to boot, and there really wasn’t an easy way to explain his disappearance without looking like he was standing Auston up. On the other hand, as pissed as he was at Gryphon at the moment, Mitch wasn’t going to leave him to fight Natrix alone. It was always easier when it was the two of them working in tandem.

Auston had picked a relatively busy cafe not far from campus. He hoped this was the right decision, choosing to go on a date with Auston. There were just so many variables, so many potentials--and he couldn’t let himself think about those. He was in the here and now. Gryphon had secrets from Skyline, a separate life and separate wants, and Mitch wasn’t going to stay hung up on that idea. Not if he could have Auston.

Auston met him at the door to the cafe, wearing a pale denim jacket and had his hair pushed back with a white bandana folded over itself. It was relatively conservative for what Mitch had come to expect from Auston, who liked to push the fashion envelope a little further than Mitch himself. His smile too was more tentative than Mitch expected.

Mitch felt butterflies stir in his stomach, but he composed himself enough to greet Auston with a kiss on the cheek. That was flirty enough without being weird, right? Between hockey and the Skyline suit, Mitch hadn’t had a ton of time for dating. Hookups at parties and meaningless summer flings were one thing, but actually trying to date someone was entirely new territory for Mitch.

It was somehow both more and less awkward than Mitch had expected when Auston bought Mitch his coffee and a pastry. It wasn’t really any different than their regular one-on-one study sessions, chatting with Auston and laughing at his jokes, except for how it was. Had all those study sessions been study dates and Mitch had just not realized? 

He felt tense for the first few minutes, but he slowly started to relax into it. Which was, of course, when his phone buzzed three times in his pocket. He had Natrix sightings tied to a triple buzz alert, which meant he had to get out of here before people got injured.

On the table between them, Auston’s phone buzzed as well. It was a continuous buzz like it was ringing.

“You gonna answer that?”

“No, I'm with you,” Auston said, but he was darting worried glances at his phone. “It’d be rude.”

The phone stopped buzzing but immediately started again.

“You can answer if you need to.”

Auston grimaced apologetically and picked up the phone. “It’s my mom. I’ll take this outside, I’ll be right back.”

With Auston gone, Mitch checked his own phone. There was a Natrix sighting on the Mississauga campus and no sign of Gryphon. The next message on his phone was a shelter in place warning for campus. He frowned and tapped out a message to Marty, wondering if he should start cutting his date short.

Of course, that was when the front plate glass window of the cafe shattered because Natrix had thrown half a city bench at it.

Like the rest of the cafe’s patrons, Mitch got the fuck out of the cafe, but unlike the rest of the patrons, he ran for his car to put on the Skyline suit.

Fuck, shit, and damn. This was one of Mitch’s only two nice shirts, but--he could buy another if he really had to. Lives and the safety of Toronto were far, far more important than Mitch’s clothes, but still.

Mitch gritted his teeth and booted up the Skyline suit after darting a glance around to make sure no one was watching. Just about everyone was gaping at Natrix and his relatively low-volume monologue, so Mitch felt pretty safe booting in.

It was strange being in the Skyline suit in normal clothes; everything just felt a little off, the machine humming just a little bit further from his skin. Another quick check around and he kicked off with his boots, intending to make a bit of a loop around the block so Natrix wouldn’t be able to pinpoint his origin to the car that was very much registered under Mitch Marner.

As good as that strategy was, Mitch didn’t have much luck with Natrix on his own. Even after Gryphon showed up, Natrix was targeting the Skyline suit with a vengeance.

Mitch wasn’t sure what had changed, but it was definitely a fight he was not on the winning side of. Dodging one of Natrix’s attacks led him to smash into the side of a building, and a spot on his armor already weakened by Natrix’s acid crumpled in, steel and wiring mangling under the force of the impact.

Mitch howled, knowing the suit was warping his agony into a sound of robotic torture. It didn’t matter though; his leg screamed in pain, his abdomen was almost certainly bruised, and his brain was probably still rattling around in his skull. Mitch could feel the blood oozing out of the suit, throbbing in time with his pulse.

Natrix had never managed to actually _hurt_ either Skyline or Gryphon. Apparently, Natrix hadn’t intended to this time either, because he stopped short and fled the scene at the sight of Skyline’s very human blood.

“Oh my God,” Gryphon said, staring at the bent and twisted metal that was what remained of the left leg of the suit. “Oh my God, Skyline, are you okay?”

“The suit can still fly,” Mitch gritted out. There was a sharp jagged edge of torn metal digging into his thigh. Mitch did not look forward to explaining that particular injury to the hospital when he inevitably needed to go for stitches and a tetanus booster.

“How did you get here so fast?” Gryphon demanded. “I--were you on scene when it started? Did you see anything?”

“You’re the one who knows who Natrix is,” Mitch retorted and flicked his attention over to the diagnostics the Skyline suit was running to compensate for the damage. “I was on a date, so I’m just hoping I haven’t scared the guy off with the giant metal suit.”

Gryphon paused, and for the first time his eyes flicked up to the Skyline faceplate, which was cracked. Mitch didn’t know how much of his face was showing through the crack, but it was definitely enough to make something flicker across Gryphon’s face. “I’m sure they were thrilled to have you there at all, Mitch,” and that was about when Mitch realized just how fucked this whole situation was because Gryphon paled under his mask and bolted.

“Well fuck,” Mitch said, because now his civilian identity was now out in the open and he had to get himself back to campus for medical care under his own power, _ and _ Auston probably thought he’d ditched their date like a coward when Natrix had shown up.

Fuck his life, honestly.

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**EMERGENCY ALERT/ALERTES D’URGENCE**

_ WEB TEXT/EMAIL/VOICE:_ An immediate evacuation of the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus is required due to supervillain activity. Remain calm. Follow the instructions of emergency and other university personnel. After leaving the area, go to the UTM web site: (URL) or other local sources for more information. Please limit phone use so phone lines are available for emergency messaging. Standby for additional messages. Personnel in those areas not listed for evacuation should remain in place, be alert to changing conditions. This is an emergency alert from the Alert Ready National public alerting system issued by the Ontario Emergency Measures Organization. 

_ TEXTE WEB/COURRIEL/VOIX _: Une évacuation immédiate du campus de Mississauga de l'Université de Toronto est requise en raison d'activité supervillain. Restez calme. Suivez les instructions du personnel d'urgence et d'autre personnel de l'université. Après avoir quitté la zone, accédez au site Web UTM: (URL) ou à d’autres sources locales pour plus d’information. Veuillez limiter l'utilisation du téléphone afin que des lignes téléphoniques soient disponibles pour la messagerie d'urgence. En attente de messages supplémentaires. Le personnel des zones non répertoriées pour l'évacuation doit rester en place, sois attentif aux changements de conditions. Il s’agit d’une alerte d’urgence du système d’alerte public Alert Ready National de l’Organisation de mesures d’urgence de l’Ontario. 

_ SMS TEXT:_ Evacuation of parts of campus required. Go to (URL) for info on areas to be evacuated.

_ SMS TEXTE: _Évacuation de certaines parties du campus requise. Accédez à (URL) pour obtenir l'information sur les zones à évacuer _ . _

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Marty threw open the doors to their lab and ushered Mitch in, hurrying him to lie down on the big table in the middle of the room. Marty had clearly been anticipating Mitch’s injury, because the first aid kit was already set out, along with a biohazard container and the large steel crate they used to store busted parts of the Skyline suit.

“Pretty sure this isn’t intended use,” Mitch gritted out.

Marty rolled his eyes and started manually removing parts of the Skyline suit, the ones that weren’t crumpled up and digging into Mitch’s leg. “I saw you get your shit kicked in on the news, kiddo,” he retorted, using a wrench to loosen the neck seal and starting to get Mitch’s busted helmet off. “I thought you were dead for about a minute there, especially when Natrix got the fuck out of dodge. He’s a piece of shit, but he hasn’t killed anyone yet so I figured when he fled and you weren’t moving you were dead.”

“You didn’t call my parents, did you?”

“No, but Elodie and Salvi are going to personally murder you when they next see you. I finally called and said you were on the move and I’d let them know when you got here, but I think the Skyline suit takes priority at the moment.” Marty fell silent as he worked the shoulder pieces free, dumping the bloodied chunks of metal into the biohazard container and the undamaged pieces into the steel crate. “What happened out there, Mitch?”

Mitch gave Marty a quick rundown, grateful to have something to take his mind off of the throbbing agony that was his leg. “I don’t know why Natrix was so focused on Skyline. Usually, he gets pretty distracted by the time Gryphon shows up.”

“Gryphon isn’t in a suit of armor, maybe,” Marty mused. “Hey, this is going to suck but I gotta try to get that leg piece off of you.”

Mitch gritted his teeth and only yelled once as Marty efficiently got his left boot off and as much of the leg armor away from the wound as he easily could. “Fuck. That’s no fun.”

“Yeah, well, at least none of Natrix’s acid got in there. I have no idea what that would do but I can guarantee it wouldn’t be fun.”

“What does the news think is going on?”

Marty had his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, eyes intent on Mitch’s injured leg. “Well, the university is under a full evacuation order. I had to hide when the police came through to make sure everyone was out; Natrix has been seen running through buildings with Gryphon in pursuit, and I think the university decided to just clear out rather than sheltering in place. My 101 kids were thrilled since they had their exam postponed because of it, so that’ll be fun reworking the syllabus.”

Marty got the armor off of Mitch’s uninjured leg and sealed up the box of undamaged parts, turning to a roll of gauze and a set of tweezers.

“Anyone have any theories as to what’s going on with Natrix this week?”

“The weather getting to him? Who the fuck even knows. I’m more worried about you bleeding out.”

There was a cough from the doorway. Both Mitch and Marty’s attention snapped to the door to see Patty standing there.

“You know the University is under an evacuation order, right?” Patty said, coming into the room. “What are you two doing here?”

Mitch was grateful the Skyline suit was hidden out of sight. “Got caught in the line of fire,” he said, grimacing as Marty dumped rubbing alcohol into the injured mess that was his thigh. “Evacuating when I'm bleeding this much is...kind of difficult.”

“And I wasn't about to just leave him,” Marty added. ”Hold onto something, Mitchy, this is going to hurt.”

“More than you putting liquid fire into it?” Mitch demanded, and that was when Marty started in with butterfly bandages, trying to hold the deep gash closed.

“You need stitches,” Marty said irritably.

“Yeah, well, we’re on lockdown since we didn’t evacuate,” Mitch snapped back. “And unless you’re going to stitch me together yourself, we’re going to have to deal. What are you doing here, anyway?”

Patty waved his phone at them. “My phone died so I didn’t get the alert, and I was in the quiet room with a stack of grading two inches tall. I only figured out what was going on when I got to my desk and everyone was gone, and then I heard your voices.”

Mitch shifted so he could see Patty better. He hissed as pain shot up his leg to his abdomen. “Fuck.”

Marty was immediately digging through the first aid kid. “Okay. We’ve got Advil, Tylenol, Aspirin--”

“Not that one,” Patty interjected. “He’s already bleeding too much.”

“Right. So Advil, Tylenol, and a hypodermic of very illegal Toradol that someone has thrown into this bag.”

“That’s mine,” Mitch said. “From when I broke my ankle and got fracture blisters.” He inhaled sharply. “Like, it was prescribed to me and everything. I just didn’t do the full five days when I was prescribed it.”

“So you threw it in the first aid kit in your backpack?”

“Look,” Mitch said, and stopped there because Patty was in the room.

“If this is about Mitch being a secret superhero, I know about that,” Patty said.

Mitch and Marty stared at him.

“I know it’s a secret, I haven’t said anything to anyone, but--it makes sense. You’re not evacuating, Mitch has the same injury as Skyline, and the two of you are always talking about the medical applications of robotic exoskeletons, which is pretty much what the Skyline suit is, isn’t it? A robotic exoskeleton?”

“I’m not going to confirm or deny,” Mitch said. “I am--everything hurts right now.”

“I think you should take the Advil.”

“I have experience administering painkiller shots,” Patty said, expression worried. “With Caleb, you know, I--I can do it.”

“It’s Toradol.” Marty shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, none of us are medical professionals. Just because it’s in the kit doesn’t mean we know how to use it. I really think we can wait until an ambulance can get to us. You’ll be in pain, Mitchy, but you’re a tough dude. I don’t want to fuck around with random painkillers.”

“It’s up to you, Mitch.”

Mitch took a deep breath and considered. It hurt; he was pretty sure the adrenaline and shock were wearing off enough that the pain was starting to make him grit his teeth and tears to well in the corner of his eyes. “Do it, Patty.”

“Alright.” Patty took the shot from Marty, fiddling with the cap. He primed the shot and neatly injected it into the meat of Mitch’s thigh, not far from his injury.

“Oh, fuck,” Mitch groaned. He resisted the urge to rub the injection site.

“It’s going to take a little bit to kick in,” Patty said. “Deep breaths.”

Mitch felt himself sway a little. “I don’t feel so good.”

Marty picked up the syringe and his expression morphed into something Mitch couldn’t really identify. “Marleau. What the fuck did you do?”

“Marty?”

“This isn’t Toradol! What did you _ give _ him?”

“I really am sorry about this,” Patty said, and that was when Mitch collapsed against his will, eyes sliding shut to the sound of Marty and Patty yelling.

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_ To: K. Dubas, CDPU Project Director _

_ From: M. Hunter, CDPU Head of Personnel Recruitment _

_ RE: _ ** _[[CLASSIFIED]] URGENT!!!!! OPEN IMMEDIATELY!!!!_ **

Damnit, Kyle, now is not the time to send me to voicemail. We have reason to believe Natrix has plans to neutralize Skyline and Gryphon. Agent Tavares has stopped answering his phone. Call me IMMEDIATELY.

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Mitch was not the kind of person who usually drifted into consciousness. His mom had complained of poor sleep her whole life, and Mitch’s last roommate had suffered from chronic insomnia. Mitch, on the other hand, was usually able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat and come to consciousness just as quickly.

Waking up groggy was an unusual experience for him, then.

He regained consciousness slowly, at first confused as to why his bed was suddenly so hard and cold, and then confused as to why he was having a difficult time pushing through the thick fog that had manifested in his head.

“Hey, time to wake up, Mitch,” a somewhat familiar voice was saying. Mitch knew that voice, but he couldn’t figure out from where. He blinked groggily, attempting to speak but his tongue felt thick in his mouth. His eyes refused to focus fully, the room bright and blurry all at once.

Someone gave him a glass of water, which he sipped at slowly, trying to clear the dryness in his mouth.

“Mitch, I really need you to focus,” the voice said. “Hey. Mitch.”

When Mitch finally did get his eyes to focus, he nearly dropped the glass.

“Patty?”

“Mitch, I need you to help me.”

“I--what’s going on? Where am I?”

Patty helped Mitch close his hands back around the glass. “I need you to help me, Mitch. We’re in the biomedical building at UT St George campus. My son, Caleb--he’s getting worse. I need you to build him a robotic exoskeleton.”

Mitch shook his head. “He needs--what?”

“A robotic exoskeleton. He uses biphasic cuirass ventilation, but it’s bulky, and he can’t leave the hospital. He needs something fitted to his body.”

“I don’t--that’s already a relatively small machine, isn’t it?” Mitch tried to sit up more, but Patty’s hands pushed him back, sloshing water from the cup onto Mitch’s bandaged leg. “Patty, I don’t know what I can do?”

“You can build the machine, and you can help him.” Patty’s expression was stern but had an undercurrent of worry. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for long enough.”

“I--_ what _?” Mitch struggled to think through and came to a horrifying realization. “You’re--”

“Natrix, yes.” Patty kept holding onto Mitch’s arms. “Can you help him?”

“I--I can try.” He paused, taking a sip of water and a deep breath. “Can I just ask--why Natrix? Why--why the name?”

Patty shrugged. “I wasn’t going to run about the city in a St Patrick’s uniform. Your Skyline suit seems to have the market cornered on using a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform anyways.”

“But--snakes?”

“St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, allegedly. I grew up hearing the legend.” Patty shrugged again. “I figured it wasn’t something people would immediately associate with me. I’m surprised none of you caught on.”

“None of us?”

“You, Auston, that Dubas guy who keeps showing up whenever something goes wrong. The press. Anyone, really.”

Mitch’s stomach sank, rapidly connecting a series of dots. Gryphon knew who Natrix was; Natrix was Patty; Gryphon had known who Mitch was when the Skyline faceplate was destroyed; _ Auston was Gryphon._

“Why didn’t you just ask for help?”

“I didn’t know it was you,” Patty said simply. “I tried a chemical approach, but that wasn’t clearing the mucus fast enough. It kept reacting badly.”

_ Gryphon’s powers had come from a lab accident,_ Mitch remembered. Auston had been victim to one of Patty’s attempts at a cure and had accidentally gained superpowers in the process. Apparently, those superpowers were either not recreatable or not a cure for Caleb’s sickness if Patty was looking at a mechanical treatment.

Mitch was not having fun connecting all of these dots.

“I had to get Skyline’s attention,” Patty continued. “I had to figure out who the operator was because their mechanical suit could be miniaturized and applied to Caleb’s care. A better monitoring system. A transportable biphasic cuirass ventilator. Something that can let him go outside and be a kid even during his flare-ups. I had to figure out who you were, and it isn’t like you made it easy to get your attention.”

Auston skidded into the room, eyes wide, and stopped short at the sight of Patty braced over Mitch.

“You can help too, Auston,” Patty said mildly, as if he had heard Auston coming down the hall. Maybe he had. Mitch was still disoriented. “I need you and Mitch here to work on Caleb’s treatment.”

“Let him go.”

“I don’t think so, Gryphon. I need his help. You, you’d be useful, but him I need. I can’t just let him go.”

“I’d help if you’d have just asked!” Mitch exclaimed. “But I’ll help. I promise I’ll help. But--can I suggest--join the CDPU.”

“What?” Auston said at the same time that Patty snorted in disbelief.

“We can help you,” Mitch said, keeping his hands where Patty could see them. His leg throbbed. “The CDPU wants Gryphon and Skyline to join up. We’ll make it a condition--they don’t get us without you.”

“And what is this CDPU going to do for me?”

“Well, they’ve got geniuses on staff, and they’ll have us. You stop terrorizing Toronto, we help you with Caleb,” Auston said. “You know I care about Caleb; you know Mitch will do everything he can to help. It’ll keep you out of jail and able to help your kids. Just--become a good guy, Patty, please.”

Naturally, that was when John Tavares, apparently an undercover CDPU agent, burst through the door, tazed Patty, then slipped on the floor and slammed his head against the title, going still with a groan.

“What the fuck,” Auston said, and then, “Should we pull the taser prongs out of Patty?”

Mitch eyed the two men lying prone on the floor. “I think JT has a concussion.” He thought about JT’s previous concussion and amended his statement. “Another concussion. And probably a matching black eye.”

Patty was twitching, his muscles spasming. “I would really appreciate having the giant metal barbs in me removed,” he gritted out.

“You get Patty, I’ll get JT?”

“Uh,” Kyle Dubas said from the doorway. “This is not what I expected to find.”

“We’re open to joining the CDPU,” Mitch said. He was checking JT’s pulse as best he could, considering that his leg was threatening to give out underneath him. “Mitch Marner, by the way. I operate the Skyline suit.”

“...nice to meet you.”

From across the room, Auston was helping Patty sit up so he could get to the taser prongs. “This is Patty Marleau. He’s going to join the CDPU with us.”

“I wasn’t aware he had an invitation,” Dubas said dryly. He put away his handgun, tucking it back into the discreet holster under his suit jacket. “Unless I missed a memo.”

“If you want us, you get him,” Mitch said cheerfully. “I think JT is going to need an ambulance.”

“They’re already stationed outside.” Dubas sounded less shocked than Mitch had been going for, but whatever. If this let him keep Auston and let Auston take care of Patty while also taking down their archnemesis and turning him to good, Mitch was going to take Dubas’ less than emotional response as a positive. “We wanted to make sure it was safe for them to enter before they came in.”

“We?”

At that point, Zach fucking Hyman poked his head around Dubas’ back, and Mitch lost it laughing.

\--

“So apparently a good third of the U of T hockey team is a secret superhero,” Mitch said once JT had been taken away in an ambulance and Patty was sitting in the back of a black government SUV with Dubas and Zach. A paramedic was hovering a few feet off, making increasingly horrified faces at Mitch’s makeshift leg bandage.

Mitch didn’t appreciate the judgy paramedic. He and Marty had done the best they could with the first aid kit in the physics lab, and he hadn’t passed out from pain or blood loss just yet.

“Three of us does not a third make,” Auston reminded him. “It’s like ten percent. At most.”

“I'm pretty sure Nylander has something to do with the CDPU. He's always around incident sites with his camera.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if Sparksy knew something,” Auston added thoughtfully.”Is this as weird for you as it is for me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I spent all this time being in love with Mitch Marner and trying not to flirt with Skyline,” Auston said. “I'm trying to merge the two in my head.”

“I was falling in love with Gryphon, and not wanting to hide Skyline from Auston,” Mitch replied. ”It's...not quite what I was expecting when I got up this morning.”

Auston reached out and took Mitch’s hand. “I guess we can figure it out together.”

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

To: _M. Marner, CDPU Field Operative; A. Matthews, CDPU Field Operative; P. Marleau, Probationary CDPU Field Operative; H. Knight, CDPU Field Operative; G. Lacasse, CDPU Field Operative; M. Rielly, CDPU/RCMP Liaison Officer; N. Kadri, CDPU Equipment Manager; M. Martin, CDPU Associate Equipment Developer; J. Tavares, CDPU Equipment Design Consultant and Recruitment Officer; H. Wickenheiser, CDPU Primary Training Officer_

From:_ K. Dubas, CDPU Project Director _

_ RE: _ ** _[[CLASSIFIED]] CANADIAN DOMESTIC PROTECTION UNIT, HANDBOOK (Version 1.1)_ ** ** _  
_ ** _ Attached files: Classified, Level 7: CDPU-T Handbook 1,1 (372 KB) _

Hi all,

Long email, but bear with me.

Please remember to review the Handbook and submit procedural suggestions before the close of business on THURSDAY the 11th. Any suggestions submitted after this deadline WILL NOT be accepted.

Marner, a reminder that we are not accepting name change suggestions. The Canadian Domestic Protection Unit Toronto (CDPU-T) is a perfectly serviceable name and we will not be identifying ourselves as “the Superbuddies”, “the Canadian Avengers”, “the Underpants squad” or “the Mitch Marner Appreciation Society.”

Further Reminders:

\--Agent John Tavares will be out with his concussion for the next six weeks. If anyone involved with the University of Toronto recruitment office is approached about his injury, please remember the cover story is that he hit his head in a beer league hockey game. Marleau, you better send him a really nice get-well-soon card.

\--Freddie Andersen in accounting has asked me to remind you all that your paychecks will be coming from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan under MLSE, and your out of pocket reimbursements will come from a nonexistent McDonald’s in Alberta. He requests that all forms be submitted COMPLETED and ON TIME. Please remember he has higher clearance than anyone but myself and additionally is trained as a wetwork agent when you decide to antagonize him.

\--Nazem Kadri has asked me to remind everyone that any and all equipment issued by the CDPU is CDPU property and must be returned in the state it was issued in. Please remember Marleau is ON PROBATION and MAY NOT be in possession of ANY weapon capable of lethal force. This includes but is not limited to: handguns, stun grenades, tasers, knives larger than two and a half (2.5) inches long, hockey sticks, office equipment (ie: staplers, hole punches, etc) larger than three (3) ounces in weight, and the rocket launcher.

\--A further note from Kadri: Marner, please stop requisitioning “a Captain America shield, but Canadian.” To quote Kadri directly: “1) not physically possible at the moment, and 2) you are NOT Captain Canada, you little [redacted].”

\--A third note from Kadri: the next person to request anything inspired by a superhero comic, film, or anything otherwise copyrighted is getting issued two potatoes and a Nokia brick phone for their next mission, no exceptions. Matt Martin has offered to try if you handle the legal paperwork.

\--On that note, Cahow and Hagg in legal are very busy women and they do not have time to help with things like attempting to obtain copyright permission for you guys.

\--Our RCMP liaison is Sergeant Major Morgan Rielly; if you have any need to cross into the United States you’ll be in contact with Agent Jake Gardiner of SHIELD. Please try to limit the paperwork associated with bringing lethal weapons across international borders. As half the team is American, we are working on proper protocol for government clearance, but it will take time. Please don’t cause any international incidents until we have that worked out.

\--Hayley Wickenheiser will be running regular training sessions. Yes, attendance is MANDATORY.

I look forward to seeing you all on Monday at 9:30 AM for our first all-hands meeting. Another email will follow this with the exact location and details. Please remember to use YOUR door code and to not let anyone into the building unless they input their own door code.

-K. Dubas  
Canadian Domestic Protection Unit Project Director  
RCMP Assistant Commissioner, Supernatural Force Division

**Author's Note:**

> I had a fantastic time playing with this universe, and I hope this fulfills your requests, dear venvephe! I tried to put in as many of the team as possible, and I had such a fun time figuring out how these silly boys would get their acts together! Happy Marnthews Exchange!
> 
> This is vaguely related to a ‘verse I've written for a different fandom, and I'll link the two once authors are revealed. I'll also add my tumblr and twitter handles!
> 
> Title from Imagine Dragons’ Ready Aim Fire.
> 
> Thanks to E and A for helping me hash out the idea and furthermore for the beta, and to L for help with the French! Again, I'll edit to put in the proper handles after reveals.


End file.
